Care homes sue Southend Council over 5% cut to funding

CARE home owners plan to launch court action against Southend Council over its decision to slash their funding because of Government cuts.

About 50 care homes have joined together in a new group called Caring in Southend to sue the council over a 5 per cent reduction in funding for each resident, which was announced in February.

Barry Gelfand, 44, owner of the West House care home, in St Vincent’s Road, Westcliff, said the cuts have left businesses struggling to make ends meet and have given residents a raw deal.

He said: “We are having to cope with increases in VAT and a rise in the minimum wage and national insurance and these are all things that are out of our control.

“We are asking for the council to pay a proper fee for the amount of work we undertake.

“We are having to cut all the extras, like entertainment, because we can’t afford it any more. We can’t cut staff, because the council would be the first to criticise us if we did.”

The council sets the rates for residents who receive state funding for their care.

Care home residents who have assets less than £23,000 have the bulk of their care paid for.

Those who have assets greater than that amount have their fees paid by the council direct to the care home and this amount is then recovered when the person’s estate is wound up.

The council says Govern-ment cuts mean it must reduce spending on adult social care by 12 per cent this financial year. Lesley Salter, Southend councillor responsible for adult social care, health and housing, said: “The council is very disappointed the care homes are taking this action, but has confidence in the strength of its case.

“Sadly, the care homes involved in this action did not take up our offer to discuss the fee reduction in the event they felt it would cause financial hardship.

“The vast majority of care homes have either reached agreement with us on the new fees, or made submissions as to the detrimental impact the fee reduction would cause.

“The council has not passed on the fee reduction to those homes which were able to demonstrate the reduction would affect standards or their financial viability.”

A hearing at the High Court in London, on October 27 will determine whether the action goes any further.